Privacy Policy for Tidestone Chronicle

Welcome to Tidestone Chronicle. This Privacy Policy details how Tidestone Chronicle ("we", "our", or "us") collects, uses, processes, and protects your personal information when you access or use our online platform and services, including our daily news reporting, investigative journalism, maritime news, online articles, digital subscriptions, and local and international news content. We are committed to safeguarding your privacy in accordance with the UK General Data Protection Regulation (UK GDPR), the Data Protection Act 2018, and other applicable data protection laws.

1. Information We Collect

We collect various types of information to provide and improve our services to you.

1.1 Information You Provide Directly to Us:

• Registration Data: When you create an account, subscribe to our digital services, or sign up for newsletters, we collect personal details like your name, email address, postal address, and payment information.
• Communications: If you contact us directly (e.g., via email, feedback forms, or during customer service interactions), we collect the content of your messages, your contact information, and any metadata associated with your communication.
• Engagement Data: Information you submit when participating in surveys, polls, competitions, or commenting on articles.

1.2 Information Collected Automatically:

• Usage Data: We collect information about your interactions with our site, such as pages viewed, articles read, time spent on pages, search queries, and content accessed.
• Device Information: We may collect data from the device you use to access our services, including IP address, browser type, operating system, device identifiers, and mobile network information.
• Location Data: Based on your IP address, we may infer your general geographic location for purposes such as delivering localized news (e.g., London news) or relevant advertising.
• Cookies and Tracking Technologies: We use cookies and similar technologies (e.g., pixels, web beacons) to collect information about your browsing activities, preferences, and to enhance your user experience. Please refer to our Cookie Policy for more details.

2. How We Use Your Information

The information we collect is used for various purposes, primarily to provide and improve our news services, and to ensure a tailored user experience.

• To Provide and Maintain Our Services: This includes delivering news content, managing your subscriptions, processing payments, and providing customer support.
• To Personalize Your Experience: We use information to deliver content and advertisements tailored to your interests, such as recommending maritime news or local London stories you might find relevant.
• To Improve Our Services: We analyze usage patterns to understand how our readers interact with our articles and features, helping us to enhance our content, design, and functionality.
• To Communicate With You: Sending you newsletters, updates, promotional offers (where permissible and based on your preferences), and responding to your inquiries.
• For Security and Fraud Prevention: To protect our platform, users, and third parties from fraud, cyberattacks, and other illegal activities.
• For Legal Compliance: To comply with legal obligations, enforce our terms and conditions, and respond to lawful requests from public authorities.

3. Legal Basis for Processing

We rely on the following legal bases for processing your personal information:

• _Contractual Necessity:_ When processing is necessary for the performance of a contract with you (e.g., managing your digital subscription).
• _Legitimate Interests:_ When processing is necessary for our legitimate interests (e.g., improving our services, preventing fraud, personalizing content), provided these interests do not override your fundamental rights and freedoms.
• _Consent:_ Where you have given explicit consent for specific processing activities (e.g., for certain marketing communications or non-essential cookies). You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.
• _Legal Obligation:_ When processing is necessary to comply with a legal or regulatory obligation (e.g., tax reporting).

4. Sharing Your Information

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share your information in the following circumstances:

• _Service Providers:_ With trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website, processing payments, delivering emails, conducting analytics, or providing customer support. These providers are contractually bound to protect your data and only use it for the purposes for which it was disclosed.
• _Advertisers and Ad Networks:_ To deliver relevant advertisements to you on our site or on third-party sites, but only in a way that respects your privacy and consent choices. This may involve sharing anonymized or aggregated data.
• _Legal Requirements:_ When required to do so by law or in response to valid requests by public authorities (e.g., a court order or government agency).
• _Business Transfers:_ In connection with any merger, sale of company assets, financing, or acquisition of all or a portion of our business by another company.
• _With Your Consent:_ We may share your information with third parties when we have your explicit consent to do so.

5. International Data Transfers

As a news publication with an global reach, some of our service providers may be located outside the United Kingdom or the European Economic Area (EEA). When we transfer your personal data to countries outside the UK/EEA, we ensure appropriate safeguards are in place, such as using standard contractual clauses approved by the European Commission or the UK Information Commissioner's Office, or relying on adequacy decisions for specific countries.

6. Data Retention

We retain your personal information only for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes for which it was collected, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal, accounting, or reporting requirements. The precise retention period will vary depending on the type of data and the purpose of its processing.

7. Your Rights Under Data Protection Law

Under relevant data protection laws, particularly UK GDPR, you have the following rights regarding your personal data:

• _Right to Access:_ You have the right to request a copy of the personal information we hold about you.
• _Right to Rectification:_ You have the right to request that we correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal information we hold about you.
• _Right to Erasure:_ You have the right to request the deletion of your personal information, under certain conditions.
• _Right to Restrict Processing:_ You have the right to request that we restrict the processing of your personal information, under certain conditions.
• _Right to Data Portability:_ You have the right to request that we transfer the data that we have collected to another organization, or directly to you, under certain conditions.
• _Right to Object to Processing:_ You have the right to object to our processing of your personal information, under certain conditions, particularly where we process it based on legitimate interests or for direct marketing.
• _Right to Withdraw Consent:_ Where processing is based on your consent, you have the right to withdraw that consent at any time.

To exercise any of these rights, please contact us using the details provided below. We may require you to verify your identity before fulfilling your request.

8. Security of Your Information

We are committed to protecting the security of your personal information. We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures, including encryption, access controls, and secure server infrastructure, to safeguard your data against unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction. However, no method of transmission over the internet or method of electronic storage is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

9. Third-Party Links

Our site may contain links to third-party websites, products, or services. This Privacy Policy applies only to our site. We are not responsible for the privacy practices of external sites. We encourage you to read the privacy policies of any third-party websites you visit.

10. Changes to This Privacy Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time to reflect changes in our practices or for other operational, legal, or regulatory reasons. We will notify you of any significant changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "last updated" date. We encourage you to review this Privacy Policy periodically.

11. Contact Us

If you have any questions or concerns about this Privacy Policy or our data practices, or if you wish to exercise your data protection rights, please contact us at:

You also have the right to lodge a complaint with the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO), the UK's supervisory authority for data protection issues.

Last updated: 14 May 2024